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Chaos erupts at GPHC’s Psychiatric Ward as…

Aug 02, 2008 News

Inmate beats, stabs other patients

Well, one would have thought that order and discipline would have been the foremost factors exhibited at any public institution, but this does not seem to be the case at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

On Thursday, an irate mother claimed that her son, who was an inmate at the hospital’s psychiatric ward, was beaten mercilessly and stabbed with a broken mop stick by another enraged inmate.

Abiola Nelson, of Tucville, Georgetown, told this newspaper that her son, a young man of unsound mind, was admitted to the facility three weeks ago, after he was seen by a doctor and referred to the GPHC by the courts.

She said that 20-year-old Leonard Nelson was hospitalised after he began behaving ‘crazy’ several weeks ago, breaking up household articles and burning other items.

The mother said that her son’s actions had driven relatives in Buxton to hand him over to the police at Vigilance, who yesterday assisted in transporting him to the GPHC after she explained his need for hospitalisation.

According to his mother, Leonard also has an ongoing assault case in the courts, for which he is required to make an appearance on August 6.

The woman said she visited the hospital at noon yesterday to see her son, and was told by sources that he was ‘beaten by a madman’ in the ward, while the nurse stood around, unable to intervene.

She said that, on investigating further, she was told that her son was attempting to remove the other inmate’s jersey from the bed her son was using when the inmate attacked and beat her son with his fist cruelly.

The woman said she begged the nurses to have her son removed from the ward, but they all refused her pleas. She said that her son was spitting blood at the time.

Ms Nelson said that, yesterday, several inmates suddenly began screaming. When she rushed to the ward to see what the commotion was about, she noticed the same man beating her son again.

The woman said the man was beating her son with a piece of wood, and stabbing him about the body with a broken mop stick left in the ward by a cleaner.

The woman said that although she screamed and begged hospital staff to open the door to the ward, they refused, and just stood there staring in fright.

According to the angry mother, the man then turned his attention on another patient, whom he flung to the floor in a rage. This other patient was knocked unconscious.

As if driven by a demon, she said, the man whirled around, took the mop stick and dealt another patient a blow that left a deep gash on his left side.

In desperation, the woman said, she ran a short distance and alerted two security guards, who ran to the ward and overpowered the attacker, thus allowing nurses to give him an injection to subdue him.

The woman said she dragged her son from the facility, and later took him to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit to have him medically examined.

Abiola Nelson criticised the administration and security systems at the hospital. She said that, for the safety of patients and hospital staffers, there is a dire need for new protective systems. Several attempts to speak to hospital sources on the issue proved futile
(Alex Wayne)

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